Mark 15

Mark 15 is the fifteenth chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. This chapter records the narrative of Jesus' passion, including his trial before Pontius Pilate and then his crucifixion, death and entombment. Jesus' trial before Pilate and his crucifixion, death, and burial are also recorded in Matthew 27, Luke 23, and John 18:28–19:42.

The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 47 verses.

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:

In the previous chapter, Mark has stressed that "all the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes", "all the council", had taken part in the overnight trial of Jesus. "As soon as it was morning", the council or Sanhedrin reaches a decision, and agrees to hand Jesus over to Pontius Pilate. Pilate was the Roman Prefect (governor) of Iudaea Province from 26 to 36, which was the Roman combination of Idumea, Judea and Samaria and did not include Galilee, which was under the jurisdiction of Herod Antipas. William Robertson Nicoll suggests that the "consultation" should be understood as the "resolution" resulting from the consultation, given that the whole council had been involved in the trial, and George Maclear suggests this was "a second and more formal meeting of the Sanhedrim" following the first, overnight, meeting.

According to Matthew, the Sanhedrin had decided to execute Jesus. Only the Romans were allowed to execute someone, not the local officials, according to John 18:31, yet Acts 6:12 records the Sanhedrin ordering the stoning of Saint Stephen and also James the Just according to Antiquities of the Jews (20.9.1), resulting in a rebuke from the Roman authority.

The Greek Textus Receptus/Majority Text reads:

Cross references: Matthew 27:11; Luke 23:3; John 18:37

An interpretation is that Pilate is asking Jesus if he is the messiah, just as the high priest before in Mark 14:61, but with an explicit emphasis on the Messiah's political role, that of Jewish King. According to John's gospel, in response to Pilate's question Jesus has a short conversation with Pilate and then answers, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me." Historically it is likely that perceived insurrection against Rome was for what Pilate executed Jesus. According to Mark 12:17, however, Jesus said one should pay the Roman tax and was thus not a revolutionary.